Director Fuqua Melds Timely Plot, 'Dream' Cast In 'Olympus'
In director Antoine Fuqua's new action thriller, Olympus Has Fallen, the White House — code-named "Olympus" — is invaded by North Korean terrorists. The president and his staff are held hostage in an underground bunker, and their only hope of coming out alive is a disgraced Secret Service agent.
In theaters March 22, the film opens at a politically sensitive time, perhaps by coincidence. North Korea is much in the news for its nuclear threats and its rocky relationship with South Korea.
"We have the opportunity to put on the screen our worst nightmares, and then we can look at that and say, 'Let's not let that happen in reality,' " says Fuqua, who's known for the gritty, action-packed Training Day, Tears of the Sun and Brooklyn's Finest.
The idea of making an attack on the White House look real was appealing, Fuqua tells host Michel Martin, and he wanted to take the audience on a roller-coaster ride.
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